Prop. A drives wedge into green bloc

It really doesn’t really matter much, in the full sweep of Encinitas history, if Proposition A wins or loses Tuesday.

I’d disagree with former Encinitas mayor (and retired supervisor) Pam Slater-Price’s view that the Right to Vote Initiative “is probably the most important issue to be placed before voters since the incorporation in October of 1986.”

Sounds like carbonated campaign fizz to me.

In the sweepstakes of Encinitas elective politics, however, Proposition A could prove to be huge.

Let me explain in terms that don’t induce narcolepsy.

A dedicated group of activists that includes Slater-Price and the Coast News weekly newspaper is committed to defending the small-town character of the five disparate communities that make up Encinitas — Old (beachy Highway 101) Encinitas, New (suburban) Encinitas, Cardiff-by-the-Sea, Leucadia and horsy Olivenhain.

Every city has die-hard romantics like these. Heritage preservationists. Gadflies suspicious of city-slicker developers making a killing in the backyard. Well, God bless the NIMBYs. They’re proud, few and brave.

Meanwhile, like every California coastal city, Encinitas has judiciously or recklessly (depending on your politics) grown.

The city’s general plan, which encourages votes on most major changes, has given the council under certain circumstances the right to bless, let’s say, cool mixed-use projects that exceeded height limitations by a few feet. (Ironically, Slater-Price back in the day helped craft that exemption. She’s evolved, she says, after a run of bad decisions.)

Taking a page from Escondido’s famous Prop. S, the romantics want every change to the general plan, whether it’s added density or relief from a 30-foot height restriction, to be submitted for public vote.

Now comes the political theater.

The council majority — appointed Mayor Teresa Barth, Councilwoman Lisa Shaffer and Councilman Tony Kranz — were elected with the ardent support of the Prop. A troupe.

While the council majority agrees as an article of faith with the basic thrust of A, that community planning should be a direct reflection of the people’s will, they are unwilling to throw out what’s been laboriously planned to score points with their political base. For all three, opposition to A is a profile in courage, or treason (depending on your politics).

As one prominent Prop. A backer told me, “I feel totally betrayed by them, and so do the rest of the group who worked so hard to get them elected. They seem hopelessly naive and spoon-fed by staff.” (In this circle, “staff” means a bunch of toadies who never saw a source of pension-supporting city revenue they didn’t recommend.)

So here’s what we’re left with.

If Proposition A passes, expect more public votes and all the costly insanity they presume. If A loses, still lots of engagement, enough for most normal people, but possibly less litigation.

Jim Kydd, the Coast News publisher, conceded in a commentary that most people, including himself, are befuddled by the competing claims and “I am sure the lawyers will get plenty and it won’t matter what the outcome of the election is.”

The conventional wisdom is that voters vote no when they don’t know what the hell is going on and have a hard time caring. On the other hand, this special election is going to attract a tiny voter puddle, and it’s possible enough outrage over past council actions will be ginned up that Prop. A could pass.

But no matter what, the resurgent greens, looking so united and strong after catching the Obama wave in November, have effectively split into two parties — the pragmatics, if you will, and the romantics.

The fallout from this fission is going to remain in the atmosphere through the historic 2014 election, when Encinitas will elect its first mayor to a two-year term.

It’s predictable that either Councilwoman Kristin Gaspar or Councilman Mark Muir will run for that highly prized seat. Their base is the business-minded community that’s opposed to what they see as the self-inflicted wound of Proposition A. No one on that side is shouting “traitor” at Gaspar or Muir.

Judging from the bitter rhetoric, however, the green council majority has turned to a sickly shade of chartreuse in the eyes of many in its base. Who among them will be able to step up and gain a plurality against Gaspar or Muir if a true-blue romantic is splitting liberal votes?

Prop. A may prove to be the business-class ticket to the first elected mayor’s office. Who’d have thought?